Let's not forget the Dinky

Just to clarify, I would be the last person to object to expanding the arts and humanities at Princeton, at least for the sake of counterbalancing the forces pushing it to become a purely vocational school for Wall Street. Peter Lewis has offered yet another worthy contribution to the University, but there is no reason to destroy the Dinky — yes, the move seems to be part of some diabolic plan to eradicate this “nuisance” once and for all so that the University can build on the land it owns under the tracks. The powers-that-be have been waiting five years for the easement to expire.

Let’s start with the most absurd aspect of the administration’s scheme. Current plans for the Arts Center do not, in fact, encroach on the Dinky station or tracks; they do so only on a tiny part of the Dinky parking lot. While, according to the Survey of Ridership on the Dinky from October 2006, 45 percent of riders walk to the station (70 percent on Saturdays) and over 60 percent walk from the station instead of driving, the University administration wants to move the whole operation in order to a) account for the barely touched parking lot and b) to build an access road to Lot 7 Garage, which is already full. So far, so stupid. And I thought the University was going green.

Princeton Station is already somewhat isolated from the center of campus, considering that the Dinky used to run all the way up to Blair Arch. You thought walking to Forbes was far? Try walking an extra one-and-a-half football fields distance, through a newly built set of 20-plus stairs along the way with your suitcases when traveling back home or when returning from NYC on a freezing Saturday night — not to mention if you are on crutches or in a wheelchair. How about getting a midnight snack at the Wawa or stocking up on some basic groceries there when you don’t want to pay the ridiculous U-Store prices or when you have neither the time nor the means to drive over to the Route 1 shopping centers? Well, tough luck; the Wawa is moving farther away as well.

Oh, and Forbes students, our administration has not forgotten about you foreigners. You know that crosswalk located at the edge of Forbes, the one that leads to civilization? It’s moving down south too. Knock yourselves out.

Someone whom I talked to about this issue did make a good point that moving the Dinky would benefit many grad students who live to the south of campus. Surely, this should be an argument for extending the train and adding more stops rather than reducing the service that is one of the more viable ones on the entire New Jersey Transit system.

The University is funded with money both from donations provided by generous alumni and from student tuition, funds which should go back to us students in the form of services, financial aid, research grants, etc. We, as an organization, enjoy our immense privilege without paying any taxes given that we’re a “nonprofit” institution. Students, faculty, staff, community members and American taxpayers — regardless of whether you care about a relatively convenient and green mass transportation system that takes you into New York, Philadelphia and beyond — sign the petition below so that we can rescue Princeton from unaccountable authoritarian rule and take back the future of our institution:

change.org/petitions/president-princeton-university-save-the-dinky

Joshua Shulman is a politics major from Tel Aviv, Israel. He can be reached at jshulman@princeton.edu.